South LA Health Projects--an Overview

We focus on low-income adults, infants and children in South Los Angeles, working to enhance their health and quality of life. That is our mission.

We pursue this mission by promoting good nutrition, breastfeeding, immunization and healthy preconception and interconception practices.

Our participants want the best for themselves and their families. But many of these South Los Angeles residents contend with challenges that impact their health, among them insufficient access to good education, healthcare, transportation, affordable housing, parks and fresh fruits and vegetables. Some lack sufficient knowledge about nutrition, breastfeeding, immunization or other aspects of good health.

Our WIC program–the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children–is the core of our work. WIC participants are pregnant women, new mothers, infants and children up to age five.

We serve these individuals by providing counseling, education and support in the areas of nutrition, breastfeeding, parenting and immunization; checks for nutritious foods, and referrals to community and medical resources.

Annually we serve more than 80,000 WIC participants, the vast majority of whom are Latino or African-American.

Choose Health LA Kids is a program addressing childhood obesity through parent group meetings,parent education classes, grocery store tours, food demonstrations, and a program encouraging restaurants to add healthy meals to their children’s menus.

Healthy Families America is a home visitation program in which home visitors meet with mothers of newborns and additional family members to help them adjust to their new home lives. Home visitors are professionals trained to assist families with the physical, educational, and social development of their children.

Immunization We promote immunization for people of all ages through our WIC program and collaborations with community partners. Our goal is to increase immunization rates throughout the community.

Through our various efforts we address health disparities and encourage South Los Angeles residents to make thoughtful and informed decisions about their health.